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Present  Day  Japan 

EGBERT  W.  SMITH 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/presentdayjapanOOsmit 


Foreword 


During  a recent  eight  months’  stay  in  the  Far  East,  I 
came  into  frequent  contact  with  two  quite  unrelated  states 
of  mind:  one,  the  well-nigh  universal  hatred  felt  for 
the  Japanese,  which  is  rapidly  creating  an  international 
atmosphere  fatal  to  the  development  of  international  broth- 
erhood; the  other,  the  profound  disappointment  experi- 
enced by  many  young  missionaries  in  the  Orient  at  find- 
ing conditions  there  so  different  from  what  they  had  an- 
ticipated. Diverse  as  are  these  mental  states,  both  have 
the  same  root,  a one-sided  knowledge  of  the  facts.  As 
a slight  contribution  to  the  fuller  knowledge  needed  this 
booklet  is  written, — in  the  hope  also  that  it  may  quicken 
Christian  interest  in  a great  people  who  are  facing  now 
a most  critical  stage  in  their  development. 

Egbert  W.  Smith. 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  January  29,  1920. 


Contents 

Page. 

I.  Why  Japan  is  Hated  4 

II.  Essentials  to  a Fair  Judgment  of  Japan 7 

III.  Japan  as  a Mission  Field  14 

IV.  The  Missionary  Outlook  23 

V.  The  Immediate  Need  28 

VI.  Questions  31 


Present  Day  Japan 

The  most  fascinating  and  detested  nation  on  earth  is 
Japan.  The  unquestioned  leader  of  the  Eastern  half  of 
the  world,  she  is  also  a nation  in  which  we  Americans 
have  special  reasons  to  be  interested.  For  it  was  America 
that  forced  Japan  out  of  her  age-long  seclusion  and  thus 
became  in  a sense  sjtonsor  for  her  future.  It  Avas  to 
America  that  Japan  first  looked  for  friendship  and  guid- 
ance. And  it  is  with  America  that  her  relations  in  recent 
years  have  become  at  times  so  strained  as  to  be  a menace 
to  the  best  interests  of  both  nations  and  to  the  peace  of 
the  world. 

The  fascination  of  Japan  is  felt  by  e\'ery  open-minded 
visitor.  The  physical  features  of  the  country  are  full  of 
charm.  The  almost  ever-present,  though  infinitely  varied, 
combination  in  one  and  the  same  vieAV,  of  Avooded  moun- 
tain, green  valley,  and  blue  sea,  makes  it  the  most  i)ictur- 
esque  of  all  lands.  A trip  through  the  Inland  Sea  of 
Jai)an  is  a revelation,  not  of  sublimity,  but  of  ravishing 
ever-changing  natural  beauty  unsurq)assed  upon  earth. 

The  beauty  of  the  land,  as  in  the  case  of  Italy  and  an- 
cient Greece,  has  registered  itself  in  the  aesthetic  nature 
of  the  people.  In  a rare  degree  they  have  as  a nation  the 
artistic  sense,  as  seen  not  only  in  their  painting  and 
poetry,  but  in  their  dre.ss,  their  handiwork  of  all  kinds, 
and  their  passionate  love  of  flowers  and  trees.  A more 
beautifully  arranged  and  decorated  interior  than  that 
of  the  great  Mitsubishi  Department  Store  of  Tokyo  is 
rarely  seen  in  Europe  or  America. 

With  their  aestheticism  goes  naturally  the  charm  of 
[)ersonal  cleanliness  and  courtesy.  The  Englishman  and 
his  tub  are  not  more  inseparable  than  the  Japanese  and 
his  boiling  hot  bath.  And  in  politeness  the  Japanese 


4 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


people  have  no  superiors  even  among  Orientals.  More 
than  once  in  crowded  street  cars  Japanese  men  have 
risen  to  offer  me  their  seats. 

Why  Japan  is  Hated 

But  greater  than  its  fascination  is  the  detestation 
in  which  Japan  is  held.  The  missionaries  in  Japan,  while 
keenly  aware  of  their  failings,  have  yet  an  enduring  sym- 
pathy and  love  for  the  Japanese  people.  But  they  are  the 
exceptions.  Not  only  Koreans  and  Chinese,  who  of  course 
are  intensely  anti- Japanese,  but  the  travelers  and  business 
men  of  other  nationalities  whom  I met  in  the  East,  Amer- 
icans, Australians,  Britons,  Canadians,  all  had  evil  and 
most  of  them  evil  only  to  speak  of  the  Japanese,  and  in 
many  cases  the  feeling  was  bitter  in  the  extreme.  The 
accumulated  hatred  of  which  Japan  is  the  object  is  por- 
tentous. 

The  universally  given  explanation  of  this  hatred  is  the 
conceit  and  deceit  of  the  Japanese,  two  characteristics 
which  have  a peculiar  power  of  arousing  animosity. 

The  brown  and  yellow  races  as  a rule  look  up  to  the 
white  man.  His  tone  and  habit  of  dominance,  of  assured 
superiority,  they  meet  with  Oriental  meekness,  courtesy, 
non-resistance,  self-effacement.  But  to  this  rule  the  little 
yellow  man  of  Japan  is  the  one  exasperating  exception. 
Meekness,  non-resistence,  self-effacement  are  not  in  his 
lexicon.  He  points  to  the  fact  that  in  the  arts  of  both 
war  and  peace  Japan  is  a proved  siiccess;  that  she  is  re- 
ceived as  a political  equal  in  the  circle  of  the  great  white 
powers ; and  that  whereas  it  took  the  white  nations  many 
centuries  to  reach  their  present  level,  the  Japanese  trav- 
ersed the  distance  in  fifty  years.  If  you  say  they  have 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


5 


been  simply  copyists,  they  deny  it.  They  claim  that  what 
they  have  adopted  from  the  West  they  have  at  the  same 
time  adapted  and  improved.  And  they  further  say  that 
if  climbing  to  the  top  be  as  easy  as  some  appear  to  think, 
why  is  it  that  no  other  nation  in  ancient  or  modern  times 
has  ever  in  fifty  years  climbed  even  half  the  distance  that 
they  have.  But  whether  this  conceit  is  justified  or  not,  it 
is  there,  obtrusively,  aggressively  there;  and  to  the  av- 
erage white  man  as  well  as  to  other  Orientals  it  is  offen- 
sive in  the  extreme. 

But  Japan’s  unpopularity  is  due  even  more  to  her  de- 
ceit than  her  conceit.  Her  business  reputation  all  through 
the  East  is  bad.  In  explanation  of  this  it  is  stated  that 
under  the  old  regime  trade  was  an  occupation  unworthy 
of  a Japanese  gentleman,  a samurai.  The  merchants, 
therefore,  came  from,  and  still  largely  rei)resent,  a so- 
cially and  morally  low  stralnm  of  Japanese  society.  They 
adulterate  their  goods.  They  put  famous  trade  marks 
on  shoddy  wares.  A derby  hat  stamped  with  an  English 
name,  “London,”  which  I bought  in  Seoul,  I found  later 
was  a purely  Japane.se  product.  When  a certain  Ameri- 
can firm  objected  to  the  Japanese  merchants  selling 
through  China  an  inferior  Japanese  article  labeled  “Bor- 
den’s Eagle  Brand  Condensed  INIilk,”  they  immediately 
changed  the  label,  and  not  being  very  familiar  with  Ameri- 
can ornithology  substituted  another  large  American  bird 
and  continued  the  sale  under  the  name  of  “Borden’s  Buz- 
zard Brand  Condensed  Milk.” 

When  Japan  made  her  famous  secret  demands  on 
China  and  the  facts  began  to  leak  out,  she  at  first  denied 
them. 

In  the  famous  conspiracy  trials  eight  years  ago  the 


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PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


Korean  prisoners  were  brutally  tortured  to  make  them 
sign  false  statements  prepared  by  the  Japanese  authori- 
ties. A leading  Presbyterian  elder  in  Korea,  who  was  one 
of  these  105  prisoners,  related  to  me  behind  closed  doors 
late  one  night  how  he  had  been  incessantly  tortured  for 
thirty  days  by  being  suspended  eight  and  ten  hours  at  a 
time  by  a cord  fastened  to  his  two  thumbs  behind  his 
back  and  passed  over  a beam  in  the  ceiling.  But  he  was 
of  stout  fibre  and  refused  to  sign.  When  his  captors  had 
brought  him  to  the  point  of  death  and  saw  that  he  would 
die  before  signing,  they  gave  over  the  attempt,  and  after 
ten  months  further  imprisonment  he  was  released.  He 
showed  me  his  thumbs  permanently  disfigured  by  the  cord. 

Another  of  these  former  prisoners  whom  I met  was 
pastor  of  one  of  the  largest  Presbyterian  churches  in 
Korea.  On  his  release  he  went  home,  stood  before  his 
congregation  the  following  Sunday,  and  confessed  with 
tears  that  he  had  borne  the  torture  as  long  as  he  could, 
but  his  flesh  was  weak,  and  at  last,  in  fear  of  imminent 
death,  he  had  signed  to  a lie.  He  was  not  worthy,  he 
said,  to  be  their  pastor,  and,  resigning  his  office,  walked 
out  of  the  church.  The  people  were  in  tears.  They  passed 
resolutions  assuring  him  of  their  continued  confidence  and 
love,  and  refusing  to  accept  his  resignation.  After  much 
persuasion  he  resumed  his  work  among  them,  with  a 
deepened  humility,  I was  told,  and  a larger  spiritual 
power. 

Of  course  the  results  of  examination  under  torture  are 
nothing  worth.  Their  publication  is  a form  of  falsehood. 
I give  them  as  illustrating  a characteristic  and  peculiar- 
ly abhorrent  form  of  Japanese  duplicity. 

When  the  Korean  ui)rising  began  on  March  1st,  1919, 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


7 


I was  in  Japan.  The  efforts  made  by  the  Japanese  author- 
ities to  sui)press,  deny,  or  distort  the  facts,  were  in  evi- 
dence every  day.  The  editor  of  the  Japan  Advertiser,  the 
leading  English  daily  in  the  Far  East,  stated  in  his  col- 
umns that  his  special  despatches  from  Seoul  w’ere  often 
either  suppressed  or  their  language  changed  in  transmis- 
sion. 

While  I was  in  Seoul,  the  capital  of  Korea,  during  the 
latter  part  of  March,  there  appeared  in  the  Seoul  Press,  a 
daily  new'spai)er  printed  in  English,  the  semi-official  organ 
of  the  Japanese  Government,  whose  editor  is  a highly 
cultivated  and  attractive  Japanese  gentleman  with  whom 
I became  acquainted,  an  editorial  in  which  the  editor 
ridiculed  the  idea  of  cruelties  having  been  inflicted  on 
the  Koreans.  He  said  there  was  not  a word  of  truth  in 
these  reports;  they  were  a pack  of  Korean  lies;  the  mis- 
sionaries should  have  known  better  than  to  believe  them ; 
and  so  on.  A leading  Presbyterian  missionary  of  Korea 
from  whose  lips  I learned  this  incident  went  to  the  edi- 
tor, with  whom  he  was  on  friendly  terms,  remonstrated 
with  him  for  writing  such  an  editorial,  and  told  him  what 
shocking  cruelties  he  himself  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes 
inflicted  on  the  Koreans  by  the  Japanese.  But  the  editor 
was  not  in  the  least  disconcerted. 

“Oh  yes,”  he  said,  “I  knew  those  reports  were  true, 
but  I W'as  wu'iting  officially.” 

Essentials  to  a Fair  Judgment  of  Japan 

If,  upon  hearing  these  facts,  we  join  the  ranks  of 
the  haters  of  Japan,  we  shall  be  acting  in  a very  unintel- 
ligent and  unchristian  way.  In  judging  Japan  there 
are  three  things  we  must  bear  in  mind. 


8 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


The  first  is  that  Jaj)an  is  a heathen  nation  and  can- 
not fairly  be  judged  by  our  New  Testament  standards. 
It  requires  an  effort  to  keep  this  in  mind  because 
Japan’s  mastery  of  the  arts  of  our  modern  material 
civilization  is  so  evident,  and  in  the  big  cities  especially 
the  hotels  are  so  comfortable  and  elegant,  the  street  car 
and  train  service  so  admirable,  the  streets  so  clean,  the 
stores  so  up-to-date,  the  people  so  polite,  that  the  super- 
ficial observer  would  never  dream  that  beneath  this 
smooth  veneer  of  material  progress  lies  stark  heathenism. 
An  indignant  Korean,  writing  of  Japan,  says  that  she  has 
I)ut  on  the  face  ])owder  of  modern  culture,  making  her 
look  like  a whited  sepulclire.  The  115,000  Christian  com- 
municants among  Japan’s  58,000,000,  though  their  influ- 
ence is  incomparably  greater  than  their  numerical  pro- 
l>ortion  of  the  population,  yet  do  not  average  100  out 
of  50,000  of  tlie  poinilation.  There  are  150,000  pupils  in 
Cliristian  Sunday  schools  among  7,500,000  that  attend 
the  government  day  schools.  And  these  Japanese  Chris- 
tians, ardent  patriots  and  many  of  them  highly  edu- 
cated, are  the  first  to  avow  the  fact  that  Japan  is  still 
a heatlien  nation  and  cannot  in  fairness  be  judged  by 
New  Testament  standards. 

The  second  fact  to  be  remembered  is  that  the  things 
for  which  Japan  is  blamed  and  hated  today  are  things 
wliich  the  so-called  Cliristian  nations  of  Europe,  as  late 
as  the  nineteenth  century,  were  in  the  habit  of  commit- 
ting without  scruple.  International  morality  is  the 
slowest  and  latest  fruit  of  Christianify.  Japan’s  worst 
offenses  against  China  are  no  darker  than  parts  of  Great 
Ilritain’s  niueteenfh  century  record  of  dealings  with  that 
nation.  Japan’s  offenses  against  truth  are  not  a whit 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


9 


worse  than  the  average  old-fashioned  European  diploma- 
cy, illustrated  in  Bismarck,  called  hy  Koosevelt  a great 
Christian  statesman,  who,  in  his  autobiography,  not  only 
acknowledges  but  glories  in  the  bare  faced  lie  by  which  he 
precipitated  the  Franco-Prnssian  War.  Jai)an’s  exam- 
ination of  prisoners  by  torture  represents  a practice 
common  in  Enroi)e  a hundred  years  ago  and  especially 
utilized  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Japan’s  lack  of 
humanity,  as  shown  in  the  recent  cruelties  inflicted  on 
some  12,000  Koreans,  may  be  compared  witli  Christian 
America’s  sending  each  year  shiploads  of  American  whis- 
ky from  the  port  of  Boston  to  heathen  Africa  to  the 
physical  and  moral  ruin  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  iia 
tives,  a shipment  kept  uj)  for  decades  in  the  face  of  hu- 
manitarian j)rotests,  and  that  ceased  only  two  years  ago. 

These  duplicities  and  inhumanities  that  stain  the  rec- 
ords of  the  Western  nations  are  far  better  known  to 
Japanese  scholars  and  writers  than  to  the  average  Eu- 
ropean or  American.  The  consequence  is  that  our  denun- 
ciation of  their  misdeeds  they  doubt  the  sincerity  of, 
and  some  of  them  are  tempted,  as  I noted  in  their  news- 
papers while  I was  in  the  East,  to  consider  the  white  peo- 
ple a race  of  hypocrites.  Were  it  not  for  the  daily  lives 
and  influence  of  Christian  missionaries,  this  feeling 
would  be  far  more  prevalent. 

That  the  Caucasian  race,  comprising  only  one-third  of 
the  human  family,  should  not  only  occupy  the  West  but 
extend  its  authority  over  so  much  of  the  East  as  to  be  in 
practical  control  of  nearly  nine-tenths  of  the  land  surface 
of  the  globe,  and  should  wall  off  large  and  thinly  settled 
portions  of  this  area  against  the  influx  of  the  over- 
crowded populations  of  the  East,  seems  to  the  Japanese, 


10 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


penned  in  tlieir  little  archipelago  and  jjerplexed  what  to 
do  with  their  snrplns  popnlation,  an  inequitable  ar- 
raugenieut. 

The  thii-d  thing  to  bear  constantly  in  mind  is  dhat 
the  whole  of  a nation  should  not  be  blamed  for  the  mis- 
deeds of  a part. 

A general  election  in  Japan,  as  in  Germany  up  to 
1918,  is  indulged  in  by  only  a select  few.  The  franchise 
is  so  restricted  by  property  qualifications  that  up  to  last 
year  only  twenty-eight  out  of  each  thousand  of  the  pop- 
ulation could  vote.  The  present  Ilara  Cabinet  has  re- 
vised the  election  law  so  as  to  allow  the  franchise  to  about 
sixty  of  each  thousand.  It  should  be  remembered  also 
that  the  Japanese  Diet,  u la  Germany,  is  only  an  advisory 
body. 

The  two  political  i)arties  in  Japan  are  the  Military 
Party  and  the  Liberal  or  Progressive  Party.  The  Mil- 
itary Party,  headed  by  a military  bureaucracy,  has  been 
in  power  continuously  for  fifty  years.  When  Japan  was 
studying  the  Western  governments  to  find  a model  on 
which  to  frame  her  own,  her  choice  was  practically  pre- 
determined by  the  fact  that  the  chief  unifying  force  in 
Japan,  without  which  she  might  have  fallen  to  i)ieces  like 
China  and  Russia,  was  the  passionate  loyalty  of  the 
whole  nation  to  the  Emperor.  In  her  search  for  a model 
the  only  strong  and  prosperous  Western  nation  in  which 
she  found  this  imperial  autocracy,  which  she  had  to  re- 
tain, combined  with  the  external  forms  and  appearance 
of  representative  government,  was  Germany.  Therefore 
autocratic  and  military  Germany  became  Japan’s  govern- 
mental and  administrative  model. 

And  as  Germany  rose  to  power  by  her  successful  wars 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


11 


with  Denmark,  Austria,  and  France,  in  18G4,  18GG,  and 
1870,  so  Japan,  her  devout  disciple,  rose  to  greatness 
by  her  successful  wars  with  China  and  Russia  in  1894 
and  1904.  Under  the  Military  Party’s  leadership  Japan 
did  two  things  which  no  yellow  nation  had  ever  done 
since  the  modern  world  came  into  being.  She  bested  in 
arms  both  by  sea  and  land  a great  white  nation,  and  she 
secured  for  herself  a footing  of  acknowledged  political 
equality  with  the  foremost  white  peoples  of  the  world. 
So  iLc  Military  Party  in  Jai)an  built  up  in  the  nation 
an  immense  i)restige,  and  in  themselves  an  immensse  self- 
confldence.  Prussian  to  the  core,  they  believed  the  sword 
to  he  the  one  secret  of  national  greatness. 

It  was  this  party  that  annexed  Korea  in  1910  and 
established  over  it  a purely  military  government  in 
which  every  Japanese  government  official  and  every 
Japanese  school  teacher  wears  a sword,  the  rattling  of 
the  sabre  being  always  in  the  ears  of  the  Koreans.  It 
is  this  party  whose  intiuence  is  secretly  but  unceasing- 
ly exerted  in  a score  of  vexatious  ways  to  hamj)er  and 
embarrass  the  work  of  the  missionaries  in  Korea,  since 
militarism  and  Christianity  are  natural  enemies.  It  is 
this  party  that  took  advantage  of  the  pre-occupation  of 
the  white  nations  in  the  great  war  to  make  unjust  secret 
demands  uison  China  with  the  sword  held  over  her.  It 
is  this  i)arty  that  many  believe  to  be  keeping  up  by  the 
use  of  corruption  funds  the  civil  strife  in  China  to  prove 
to  the  world  China’s  need  of  Japan’s  overlordship.  It  is 
this  party  that  is  responsible  for  the  misgovernment  and 
atrocities  in  Korea.  It  is  this  party  that  before  the  war, 
in  the  opinion  of  C0Tni)etent  eastern  observers,  was  w'ait- 
ing  a favorable  pretext  to  crush  America  on  the  Pacific 


12 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


and  seize  the  Philippines,  under  the  impression,  which 
both  she  and  Germany  had,  that  America  was  too  pacific 
and  money-absorbed  to  ])ut  up  a real  fight,  an  impression 
wliich  has  since  given  jjlace  to  an  awe-stricken  astonish- 
ment at  the  speed,  power,  and  abandon  with  which  Amer- 
ica flung  herself  and  all  she  had  into  the  fray. 

It  is  this  party  that  today,  througii  the  vernacular 
press  of  Japan,  is  keeping  up  a venomous  anti-American 
propaganda,  putting  the  worst  and  most  anti- Japanese 
construction  upon  everything  done  by  America  in  Si- 
beria and  elsewhere,  inventing  motives  and  purposes  and 
often  deeds, — and  all  this,  not  to  bring  on  war  with 
America — they  know  now  they  would  not  have  the  ghost 
of  a chance — but  to  keep  themselves  in  power  by  con- 
vincing the  Japanese  people  that  other  nations  are  at 
heart  jealous  and  hostile,  and  that  in  the  future  as  in 
the  past  Japan’s  one  hope  of  safety  and  development  lies 
in  militarism. 

Blit  this  effort  of  the  IMilitary  Party  is  a clear  in- 
dication of  declining  power.  The  utter  overthrow  of 
militaristic  Germany,  her  teacher  and  model ; the  world- 
wide disgust  and  hatred  felt  for  Prussianisni  and  all  its 
ways;  America’s  demonstration  of  the  martial  spirit  and 
power  of  an  unmilitary  nation;  the  wide  reading  through- 
out Japan  of  Woodrow  Wilson’s  speeches ; the  tidal  wave 
of  democracy  rolling  around  the  world,  Japan  being  the 
most  sensitive  of  nations  to  world  currents ; — by  all  these 
things  the  Military  Party  has  been  weakened  and  the 
Liberal  Party  strengthened. 

Spite  of  militarism’s  great  prestige  and  glorious  his- 
tory, there  is  a feeling  in  Japan  that  a new  era  of  human 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


13 


history  has  opened,  and  that  the  old  sjurit  and  methods 
are  out  of  date. 

“New  occasions  teach  new  duties; 

Time  makes  ancient  good  uncouth. 

They  must  onward  march,  and  upward, 

Who  would  keep  abreast  of  truth.” 

“Nor  attempt  the  Future’s  portal 

With  the  Past’s  blood-rusted  key.” 

This  conviction  is  deepening  in  Japan.  Out  of  it  comes 
the  hope  and  the  belief  of  many,  myself  among  them, 
that  in  a few  years  the  Liberal  Party  will  rise  to  power, 
bringing  in  a new  day  for  Christian  missions  in  all  the 
Japanese  empire,  a new  day  for  Japan  and  her  relations 
to  Korea  and  China,  and  a new  day,  I trust,  of  restored 
and  ever-deepening  friendship  between  Japan  and  Amer- 
ica. 

On  the  boat  with  me  as  I returned  to  America  were 
two  Japanese  Christians  of  flue  ability  and  culture,  one 
the  professor  of  English  in  the  Imperial  University  of 
Tokyo,  the  other  a member  of  the  Japanese  Paliament. 
Though  neither  was  a preacher,  yet  both  conducted  Chris- 
tian services  each  Sunday  for  the  hundreds  of  Japanese 
on  board  ship.  Both  belonged  to  the  Japanese  Liberal 
Party.  My  talks  with  them  convinced  me  that  on  practi- 
cally all  matters  touched  on  in  this  essay  all  three  of  us 
thought  alike.  Both  of  them  had  been  using  the  Korean 
uprising  and  atrocities  as  a proof  to  their  own  country- 
men that  the  Military  Party  was  unfit  to  govern  either 
in  Korea  or  Japan ; and  both  were  eager  to  have  these 
atrocities  published  to  the  world  iu  the  hope  that  the 
I'ressure  of  outside  opinion  might  help  to  break  from 
Japan’s  neck  the  yoke  of  militarism. 

Clearly,  therefore,  it  is  unjust  to  blame  the  whole 


14 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


Japanese  nation  for  the  doings  of  a military  combine  that 
misrei>resents  the  best  element  of  her  people  and  is  de- 
nonnced  as  heartily  by  multitudes  within  Japan  as  by 
her  bitterest  critics  without. 

Japan  as  a Mission  Field 

As  a mission  field  Japan’s  distinctive  mark  is  her 
combination  of  heathenism  with  western  civilization.  It 
is  this  that  makes  her  so  difficult  and  so  fascinating  a 
sphere  of  missionary  endeavor.  She  has  no  counterpart 
in  the  modern  world.  Her  nearest  parallel  is  the  Eonian 
Empire  of  Paul’s  day.  In  both  empires  we  find  the  same 
combination  of  heathenism,  voicing  itself  among  other 
ways  in  emperor  worshij),  varnished  over  with  a bril- 
liant material  civilization.  While  the  latter  in  some 
respects  facilitates  the  missionary  enterprise,  in  others 
it  enormously  enhances  its  difficulty. 

If  in  our  own  land  the  multiplied  absorptions  and  at- 
tractions of  our  modern  life  divert  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  from  church  attendance,  notwithstanding  Chris- 
tianity’s deej)  roothold  and  tremendous  prestige,  how 
much  hai’der  to  attract  an  audience  in  distinctly  heath- 
en cities  and  towns,  with  the  same  rival  iutere.sts  and 
solicitations  on  every  side,  and  nine-tenths  of  the  people 
antecedently  prejudiced  against  Christianity. 

In  large  sections  of  China,  where  the  dense  population 
live  in  villages,  and  where  railroads  and  other  features 
of  western  progress  are  almost  unknown,  the  people 
crowd  to  hear  the  itinerating  missionary  as  a welcome 
break  in  the  deadly  monotony  of  their  village  existence. 
The  newspaper,  the  magazine,  the  picture  show,  and 
whatever  else  is  interesting  and  diverting  in  our  Ameri- 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


15 


can  life,  lie  fills  tlie  jilace  of  to  them.  But  the  misioiiary 
in  Japan  is  faced  not  only  with  the  hostile  heathenism 
of  the  East  but  with  the  competing  absorptions  and 
attractions  of  the  ^Vest. 

An  unusually  popular  and  gifted  missionary  told  me 
that  when  his  regular  services  at  the  Central  Gospel 
Hall  in  his  own  city  of  75,0110  drew  in  as  many  as  seven 
adults  who  had  never  attended  before,  he  thought  it  a 
fairly  successful  meeting.  He  added  that  by  dint  of  hard 
work  and  advertising  audiences  of  200  or  300  could  be  se- 
cured in  the  churches,  400  in  tent  meetings,  and  GOO  or 
700  in  theatre  meetings. 

A complicating  factor  in  the  present  .situation  is  the 
enormous  enhancement  of  Japan’s  material  prosperity 
due  to  the  war.  Last  year  the  number  of  automobiles 
in  Tokyo  doubled.  In  the  cities  and  larger  towns  have 
sprung  up  the  nnnl;in,  the  newly  rich,  wliose  passion 
for  display  and  lavish  expenditure  have  so  intensified 
throughout  the  nation  the  already  eager  love  of  luxury 
and  lust  for  wealth,  that  the  missionary  finds  the  popular 
mind  more  than  usually  indilfeient  to,  and  preoccupied 
against,  his  spiritual  message. 

The  educated  classes  are  most  accessible  to  Christian 
teaching.  Yet  their  education,  and  the  i»roud  self-suf- 
ficiency characteristic  of  the  •Ta])anese,  prevent  the  mis- 
sionary's exercising  in  .la]»an,  as  a rule,  such  inttuence 
and  leadership  as  his  race  and  culture  would  give  him  in 
other  Eastern  and  less  literate  lands. 

In  the  numerous  book  stores  and  book  stalls  of  the 
cities  and  towns  are  found  translations  of  the  atheistic, 
infidel,  and  agnostic  literature  of  the  West,  as  I’epresented 
by  Huxley,  Spencer,  flaeckel,  Tom  Bayne,  and  the  like. 


16 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


But  the  ill  effects  of  such  literature  it  is  easy  to  exag- 
gerate, for  the  reason  that  it  can  be  read  by  a much  small- 
er fraction  of  the  population  than  is  generally  supposed. 

The  oft-repeated  statement  that  ninety-eight  per -cent 
of  the  children  of  Japan  are  in  school  is  understood  by 
Americans  to  imply  what  the  same  percentage  wonld  indi- 
cate in  our  own  country,  namely,  that  the  prose  and 
poetry  of  the  language,  its  books,  magazines,  and  newspa- 
pers, can  at  least  be  read,  thongh  of  course  with  varying 
degrees  of  appreciation,  by  the  vast  majority  of  the  people. 
But  the  facts  are  quite  the  other  way.  Japanese  is  one  of 
the  most  difficult  of  languages  to  learn  to  read,  being 
written  with  the  Chinese  ideographs  which  require  an 
enormous  exx^euditure  of  time  in  sheer  memory  work.  In 
addition  to  this  ideograi>li  the  Japanese  have  an  alxdiabet 
of  their  own  of  fifty  letters,  which  is  often,  though  not  al- 
Avays,  written  alongside  the  ideograx)h  to  give  the  pronun- 
ciation of  the  word.  Owing  to  the  difficulty  of  the  lan- 
guage an  American  third-year  x>rimary  schoolboy  could 
come  nearer  intelligently  reading  a X'^&e  of  ordinary 
English  than  a Jaj)anese  sixth-year  boy  a similar  xmge  of 
Japanese. 

Education  in  Jax)an  is  compulsory  only  through  the 
sixth  year  of  the  x>rimary  school,  or  until  the  child  reaches 
thirteen.  Not  above  one  in  a hundred  and  fifty  takes  more 
than  the  required  education,  the  rest  returning  to  the  farm 
or  to  assist  otherwise  in  the  support  of  the  family.  ;Most 
of  these,  from  failure  to  keep  up  their  reading,  lose  in  a 
few  years  much  of  what  they  have  learned.  While  news- 
X)ax)crs  are  taken  in  about  one  fourth  of  the  homes,  prob- 
ably not  more  than  one  in  twenty  of  the  people  can  read 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


17 


and  understand  the  editorials,  though  a much  larger 
proportion  can  read  the  news  columns.  Only  the  few  can 
read  a tract  so  as  to  get  much  out  of  it  unless  it  is  written 
in  an  extremely  simple  style. 

The  Japanese  educational  system  extends  over  too 
long  a period  of  years  and  the  higher  schools  cannot 
provide  for  the  large  number  of  students  that  apply  for 
admission.  The  average  life  of  people  in  England  is  forty- 
two  years;  in  Japan  it  is  only  tliirty-lliree  years. 
Yet  in  England  the  average  age  of  the  student  at  gradu- 
ation is  twenty-one,  while  in  Japan  it  is  twenty-five.  At 
the  annual  entrance  examinations  a year  ago  the  number 
of  applicants  for  admission  into  the  Tokyo  Higher  Com- 
mercial School  was  2,500.  The  number  admitted  was  300. 
At  the  First  Higher  School,  the  college  which  prepares 
students  for  the  Imperial  University,  of  the  2,000  appli- 
cants, 300  were  admitted.  Of  2,000  ajiplicants  at  the  Na- 
val Academy,  50  were  accepted.  This  situation  is  doubly 
unfortunate.  Either  the  disa])pointed  young  man  has  to 
give  up  his  further  education  and  start  in  life  with  a fail- 
ure scored  against  him,  or  he  may  wait  for  another  year, 
studying  and  loafing,  hoping  for  better  fortune  the  next 
time.  Either  alternative  is  bad  and  has  a direct  bearing 
upon  the  more  than  10,000  annual  suicides  in  Japan. 

The  government  provides  no  institution  of  university 
rank  for  women.  Medicine  is  the  only  profession  in 
which  they  are  given  a moderate  opj)ortunity.  In  1918 
there  were  about  340  women  physicians  practising  in 
Japan.  The  main  reading  of  the  women  and  girls  at 
borne  who  can  read  is  the  gayly  covered  monthly  women’s 
magazine,  of  which  some  twenty  have  large  circulations. 

Of  the  vices  that  find  in  heathenism  a peculiarly  fer- 


18 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


tile  soil,  Japan  lias  her  share.  While  Kipling  says  that 
east  of  Suez  ‘‘there  aint  no  Ten  Commandments,”  yet  the 
immorality  of  the  Jai»anese  is  so  open  and  unblushing  as 
to  give  them  a bad  reputation  even  among  Orientals. 
tYliat  can  be  expected  of  the  students  in  the  government 
schools  when  it  is  the  prerogative  of  the  professors  to  be 
as  immoral  as  they  choose  to  be.  Concubinage  is  a com- 
mon feature  of  family  life  and  an  average  of  one  out  of 
every  fifteen  young  Avomeu  in  Japan  between  the  ages  of 
seventeen  and  twenty-five  is  a prostitute  or  geisha  girl. 

So  great  is  the  need  for  Social  tt'elfare  Avork  and  so 
open  and  inviting  this  field  of  Christian  seiwice,  that  it 
is  .yearly  a.ssuming  a larger  place  in  the  thoughts  and 
plans  of  missionary  agencies.  Among  those  Avhose  hard 
conditions  of  life  make  a special  appeal  are  the  city  poor, 
of  Avhom  there  are  800,000  among  the  8,000,000  living  in 
the  tAventy-seA'en  cities  of  Japan;  the  Eta,  or  outcasts,  of 
Avhom  there  are  1,300,000  in  Japan,  and  Avho  constitute  a 
large  percentage  (»f  city  slums;  the  farmers,  Avho  con- 
stitute more  than  half  the  population  of  Japan,  and  who 
are  burdened  with  a debt  of  1400,000,000;  child  criminals, 
of  AAdiom  there  are  05,000  in  the  cities  of  Japan,  only  7,000 
of  Avhom  can  he  accomidated  in  the  industrial  homes; 
miners,  of  whom  an  ai»palling  percentage  are  injured 
yearly;  factory  workers,  numbering  1,300,000,  Avhose  con- 
ditions of  life  are  very  hard. 

The  factory  operatiA'es  Avork  standing  and  have  usually 
a twelve-hour  day  Avith  from  tAventy  to  thirty  minutes  at 
noon.  Some  factories  begin  AA’ork  at  4 a.  m.  and  stop  for 
a feAv  minutes  at  7 for  breakfast.  They  run  till  about  6 
p.  m.  The  850,000  girl  Avorkers  are  miserably  paid,  and 
80,000  of  them  return  home  each  j^ear  because  of  illness 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


19 


and  broken  health,  the  sanitary  and  moral  conditions  in 
which  they  live  and  Avork  being  exceedingly  bad. 

The  merciless  exploitation  of  these  workers  under  a 
Cliristless  civilization  suggests  at  least  one  vital  respect 
in  whicli  such  civilization  is  inferior  to  the  feudal  system 
which  it  disjilaced.  Under  the  old  system  duties  were 
stressed,  particularly  the  duty  of  the  feudal  lord  to  give 
protection  to  his  retainers,  and  the  duty  of  the  retainers 
to  render  military  service  to  their  lord.  With  all  its  de- 
fects the  feudal  system,  out  of  which  grew  chivalry  in 
Europe  and  husliido  in  Japan,  was  a glorification  of,  and 
a magnificent  training  in,  the  sense  of  duty.  But  in  our 
modern  civilization  the  key  word  is  not  duties  but  rights. 
Essential  and  inspiring  to  human  j)rogress  as  is  this  new 
watcliAA'ord  and  ] oint  of  vierv,  it  yet  contains  the  direst 
pos.sibilities  of  license  and  anarchy,  and  easily  lends  it- 
self to  the  o])i)ression  of  the  weak  by  the  strong. 

As  between  duties  and  rights,  duties  are  reci])rocal. 
They  unite.  They  tend  to  develop  fidelity,  loyalty,  service. 
But  rights  are  individual  and  divisive.  They  tend  toward 
self-assertion,  hardness,  cruelty.  Among  Western  peoples 
the  change  from  the  one  viewj)oint  to  the  other,  beginning 
some  400  years  ago,  was  gradual,  with  Christianity  pres- 
ent to  maintain  the  balance  with  its  widespread  and  i)OW- 
erful  preaching  and  teaching  of  duty.  But  in  Japan 
feudalism  disapi)eared  only  fifty  years  ago,  and  the  trans- 
fer of  accent  is  still  going  foiuvard  more  and  more  swiftly, 
with  Christianity  as  yet  too  little  knoAvn,  and  the  native 
religions  too  weak,  to  maintain  the  ethical  balance. 

The  moral  peril  of  this  situation  is  enhanced  by  some 
of  the  results  of  modern  education.  The  students  in  the 
great  universities,  through  the  study  of  science  and  con- 


20 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


tact  with  the  material  philosojihies  of  the  West,  lose  con- 
fidence in  their  non-Christian  faiths.  Adrift  on  the  dark 
ocean  of  unbelief,  without  religious  moorings  or  guid- 
ance of  any  kind,  their  last  state  threatens  to  be  wojse 
than  the  first.  Mbst  significant  and  alarming  are  the 
following  often  quoted  figures  of  the  religious  census  of 
the  sUidents  of  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokyo,  it  being 
understood  that  “agnostics,”  as  here  used,  describes  not 
so  much  a philosophical  conviction,  as  a state  of  utter  in- 
decision, regarding  religion. 


Shintoists  8 

Buddhists  50 

Christians  60 

Atheists  1500 

Agnostics  3000 


Total  4618 


It  is  a critical  transition  period.  Symptoms  of  moral 
degeneration  in  both  ])rivate  and  public  life  have  for 
years  been  a matter  of  grave  concern  to  the  government. 
The  necessity  of  providing  an  adequate  ethical  basis  for 
the  national  life  is  grow’ingly  felt.  In  1884  the  govern- 
ment created  a Bureau  of  Religion  under  the  exclusive 
control  of  tlie  Minister  of  Education,  and  in  1904  it  called 
a conference  of  the  leading  religionists  of  the  Empire, 
Shintoists,  Buddhists,  Confucianists,  and  Christians,  this 
official  recognition  of  Christianity  attracting  wide  at- 
tention, and  the  Christian  leaders  at  the  conference  stand- 
ing easily  foremost  in  their  practical  suggestions  for  the 
moral  welfare  of  the  people.  The  Japanese  leaders,  in  the 
opinion  of  competent  observers,  are  beginning  to  feel  that 
the  adoption  of  Western  methods  of  life  and  industry  and 
education,  without  the  restraining  guiding  influence  of  the 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


21 


religion  of  the  Western  nations,  is  fraught  with  unsus- 
pected perils.  Hence  the  government’s  effort  to  galvanize 
into  fresh  life  the  Shinto  and  Buddhist  faiths  and  to 
quicken  in  the  national  consciousness  the  ancient  and  pop- 
ular belief  that  the  Emperor  is  divine,  that  he  is  of  God- 
blood,  while  all  other  people  and  peoples  are  of  man  blood, 
thus  making  loyalty  a religion. 

The  late  Prince  Ito  voices  the  traditional  conception 
of  the  Mikado  prevailing  among  the  masses  of  Japan  from 
time  immemorial  when  in  his  ‘‘Commentaries  on  the  Con- 
stitution of  Japan”  he  says,  “The  Emperor  is  heaven-de- 
scended, divine,  and  sacred.” 

A leading  Japanese  newspaper  recently  contained  the 
following  pronouncement : 

“To  preserve  the  world  peace  and  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  mankind  is  the  mission  of  the  Imperial 
family  of  Japan.  Heaven  has  invested  the  Im- 
perial family  with  all  the  qualifications  necessary 
to  fulfill  this  mission  He  who  can  fulfill  this 
mission  is  one  who  is  the  object  of  humanity’s 
admiration  and  adoration,  and  who  holds  the  pre- 
rogative of  administration  forever.  The  Imperial 
family  of  Japan  is  as  worthy  of  respect  as  God, 
and  is  the  embodiment  of  benevolence  and  justice. 

The  great  principle  of  the  Imperial  family  is  to 
make  popular  interests  paramount — most  impor- 
tant. 

The  Imperial  family  of  Japan  is  the  parent  not 
only  of  her  own  sixty  millions,  but  of  all  mankind 
on  earth.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Imperial  family  all 
races  are  one  and  the  same;  it  is  above  all  racial 
considerations.  All  human  disputes,  therefore,  may 
be  settled  in  accordance  with  its  immaculate  jus- 
tice. The  League  of  Nations  which  proposed  to 
save  mankind  from  the  horrors  of  war  can  only 
attain  its  real  object  by  placing  the  Imperial  fam- 
ily at  its  head,  for  to  attain  its  object  the  League 
must  have  a strong  punitive  force  of  a super-nat- 
ural and  super-racial  character,  and  this  can  only 
be  found  in  the  Imperial  family  of  Japan.” 


22 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


One  Sunday  morning’  I saw  scores  of  Japanese  chil- 
dren, dressed  in  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  pouring  out 
of  a Buddhist  temple,  and  was  told  that  the  Buddhist 
“Sunday  school”  had  just  closed.  On  a fine  building  in  a 
Japanese  city  I saw  the  large  letters,  Y.  M.  B.  A.,  Young 
Men’s  Buddhist  Association.  In  some  Buddhist  services 
may  be  heard  the  very  same  hymns,  with  but  a few  words 
changed,  sung  to  the  very  same  tunes,  that  we  have  ])een 
familiar  with  from  childhood : “What  a friend  we  have  in 
Buddha,”  “Buddha  loves  me,  this  I know,’’  “All  hail  the 
power  of  Buddha’s  name.”  This  copying  of  Christian- 
ity is  a profoundly  significant  and  pathetic  symptom  of 
heathenism’s  growing  self-distrust. 

A leading  Japanese  writer  and  scholar  commenting  in 
a recent  article  on  the  deficiencies  of  Japanese  education, 
especially  moral  education,  says : “No  ethical  principle 
save  that  of  loyalty  to  the  Emperor  is  permitted  to  be 
taiight  to  the  students  of  the  grammar  and  the  middle 
school  grades.”  Another  has  an  article  on  “Disregard  for 
Honesty  a Grave  National  Defect.”  Scores  of  such  state- 
ments could  be  quoted. 

Thus  various  and  multiplying  are  the  evidences  of 
Japan’s  conviction  of  the  inadequacy  of  her  traditional 
belief  and  teachings  to  furnish  an  ethical  basis  for  the 
national  life.  Coincident  with  the  gloomy  and  growing 
sense  of  the  failure  of  her  former  religious  and  ethical 
guides  has  come  the  decisive  overthrow  of  the  nation 
whose  military  and  governmental  system  has  been  her  pat- 
tern for  fifty  years.  In  both  its  administrative  and  spir- 
itual history,  Japan  has  reached  the  end  of  an  era.  Again 
the  nation  is  on  quest,  seeking  a new  national  model  and 
a new  ethical  power  for  the  new  day  that  is  before  it. 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


23 


The  Missionary  Outlook 

That  this  quest  will  mean  a new  study  and  apprecia- 
tion of  Christianity  we  regard  as  certain.  For  the  su- 
preme distinction  of  Jaiian  is  her  sense  of  values.  She  is 
the  Jacob  among  the  nations.  With  his  crookedness  and 
duplicity  Jacob  coml)ined  an  appreciation  of  the  best 
that  secured  him  the  birthright  at  Ileersheba,  the  bless- 
ing at  the  -Tabbok,  and  lifted  him  steadily  through  the 
years  to  his  final  membership  in  Israel’s  i)atriarchal  trin- 
ity. And  Japan,  unlovely  as  are  many  of  her  traits  and 
ways,  was  the  one  Oriental  nation  to  appreciate,  and  to 
seek  at  once  to  secure  for  herself,  the  superior  civiliza- 
tion of  the  West.  Desjtite  sins  of  method  and  mistakes 
of  judgement  the  secret  of  Japan's  jthenomenal  juogress 
has  been  this  clear-eyed  i)erception  of  values,  combined 
with  a i)atriotic  zeal  to  assimilate  the  best  wherever 
found.  It  is  this  that  has  made  her  the  most  imitative 
and  eclectic  of  the  nations,  and  it  is  this  that  ^nll  event- 
ually lead  her,  we  huml)ly  believe,  to  see  and  seek  in 
ChristianiW  the  suj>ply  of  her  moral  and  spiritual  needs. 

No  nation  has  a greater  capacity  for  self-devotion.  In 
glad  and  instant  readiness  to  die  for  his  country  the 
Japanese  soldier  has  no  superior.  In  a Buddhist  temple 
I saw  a huge  rope  made  wholly  of  women’s  hair  which 
they  had  gladly  given  to  provide  the  means  to  hoist  the 
tem])le  pillars  into  jdace.  Somelinies  in  one  day  1 would 
pass  hundreds  of  ])ilgrims,  with  their  big  round  pilgrim 
hats  like  inverted  bowls,  jdodding  their  wearisome  jour- 
neys of  .some  800  miles  to  the  various  heathen  shrines.  In- 
deed the  slirines  and  temples  of  Japan  1 found  better  kept 
and  more  largely  attended  than  those  of  China.  The 


24 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


Japanese  are  a spiritually  aspiring  race.  The  national 
tendency  to  suicide  is  in  part  but  the  misdirected  ex- 
pression of  the  inherently  noble  feeling  that  life  is  simply 
a means  to  an  end,  and  is  worth  retaining  only  as-  it 
furnislies  the  soul  a highway  for  its  affections  or  am- 
bitions to  move  onward  to  their  goal. 

In  refreshing  contrast  to  their  neighbor  nations  the 
Japanese  people  as  a rule  do  not  look  down  upon  manual 
labor.  The  women  of  even  the  cultivated  and  wealthy 
class  are  usually  busily  occupied  with  household  duties. 
Though  the  physical  constitution  of  the  Japanese  is  not 
particularly  strong,  yet  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest 
Japan  is  a nation  of  toilers.  This  is  one  reason  why 
week-night  religious  services  and  women’s  church  society 
meetings  are  apt  to  be  thinly  attended. 

While  Japan  has  a bad  reputation  for  the  production 
of  cheap  and  shoddy  articles  of  merchandise  made 
only  to  sell,  yet  in  matters  of  larger  and  deeper  import 
her  people  have  much  of  what  we  used  to  call  German 
thoroughness.  The  government  is  continually  appointing 
commissions  of  inquiry  to  study  conditions  and  policies 
in  Japan  and  other  lands.  It  publishes  carefully  pre- 
pared reports,  full  of  facts  and  figures,  on  education,  in- 
dustry, sanitation,  and  the  like.  Among  all  classes  of 
l)eo])le  scholarship  is  greatly  admired.  Titles  and  degrees 
are  far  more  prized  and  confer  far  greater  distinction  and 
consequent  increase  of  influence  in  Japan  than  in  Amer- 
ica. 

The  thoughtful  habit  of  the  people  I can  illustrate 
in  the  conversion  of  a certain  Japanese  physician  whom 
I met  and  had  tea  with,  who  was  not  only  successfully 
running  a hospital,  but  was  mayor  of  the  town  by  election 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


25 


of  his  fellow-citizens.  This  man’s  wife  years  before  had 
become  interested  in  the  gospel  while  he  was  an  atheist. 
But  he  would  listen  to  the  instructions  given  her  by  the 
visiting  missionary  and  would  sometimes  get  into  a 
discussion  with  the  native  evangelist.  While  arguing 
one  day  about  the  nature  of  God  they  ai)pealed  to  the 
missionary,  lie  replied  that  two  blind  men  were  once 
arguing  about  what  the  suu  was  like.  As  neither  had 
ever  seen  it,  the  argument  was  endless,  till  one  who  had 
seen  the  sun  described  it  to  them.  Said  the  missionary, 

“You  can  argue  ’without  end;  why  not  go  to  Jesus, 
who  alone  has  seen  God,  and  learn  about  God  from  Him?” 

At  several  succeeding  visits  the  atheist  said  nothing. 
The  missionary  thought  he  had  lost  interest.  But  later 
he  applied  for  baptism  and  said  that  he  had  been  learn- 
ing from  Jesus.  He  also  told  the  missionary  that  he  had 
a book  containing  full  notes  which  he  had  taken  of  every 
sermon,  every  conversation,  every  explanation,  that  he 
had  heard  from  the  missionary’s  lips. 

In  Japan,  as  in  i)re-war  Germany,  no  tourist  can  fail 
to  be  struck  with  the  traveling  habit  of  the  people.  The 
trains  seem  to  be  always  crowded.  Not  only  individuals, 
but  families,  seem  continually  on  the  move.  While  this 
roving  disposition  makes  it  harder  to  build  up  and  sus- 
tain a church  at  any  given  point,  yet  its  general  effect  is 
favorable  to  the  spread  of  Christianity.  The  floating 
population,  loosed  from  family  and  temple  ties,  is  the 
most  easily  reached.  This  is,  j)erhaps,  one  reason  why 
students,  teachers,  and  officials  are  found  in  such  large 
numbers  in  the  churches,  and  i)robaldy  also  why  railway 
men  are  among  the  most  approachable  of  the  laboring 
classes.  Since  “the  good  seed  are  the  children  of  the 


26 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


kingdom,”  by  this  traveling  habit  there  is  secured  for  it 
a far  A\ider  sowing. 

At  the  close  of  the  regular  church  service  one  night 
at  Tokushima  there  came  to  the  platform  a man  who  was 
a total  stranger  to  the  church  and  the  city,  but  who,  when 
his  request  to  speak  was  granted,  delivered  one  of  the 
most  original  and  striking  personal  testimonies  to 
Chri.st's  power  to  save  that  I ever  heard. 

The  most  ambitious  boys  in  the  Avorld  are  those  of 
Japan.  Teacher  after  teacher  told  me  that  the  one  flam- 
ing ambition  of  every  school  boy  is  to  become  famous. 
To  a sober-minded  American  Christian  there  is  something 
.startling,  and  at  the  same  time  ])rofoundly  significant 
and  insi>iring,  in  the  intensity  and  universality  of  this 
passion  in  the  breasts  of  Japanese  youth.  Here  is  a force 
of  incalculable  jiower,  waiting  only  the  right  training 
and  direction  to  produce  the  Cliristian  leaders,  saints, 
and  heroes  of  the  new  Japan  and  the  new  Eastern  world. 

In  this  connection  is  to  be  noted  the  suiq)rising  will- 
ingness of  lieathen  parents  to  send  their  little  boys  and 
girls  to  the  Christian  kindergarten,  which  is  a form  of 
mission  work  whose  popularity  among  all  classes  proves 
it  j)eculiarly  adapted  to  the  child-loving  Japanese  heart. 
It  not  only  influences  the  coming  generation  at  its  most 
impressionable  age;  it  serves  also  as  a natural  and  happy 
way  of  introducing  Christian  songs  and  truths  and  teach- 
ers into  Japanese  homes. 

While  visiting  the  historic  and  beautifully  templed 
town  of  Nikko,  I spent  two  nights  at  a native  inn  and 
had  several  earnest  conversations,  assisted  by  a mission- 
ary companion,  with  the  young  woman  who  brought  us 
our  meals.  Before  we  left  she  declared  with  deep  feeling 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


27 


and  evident  sincerity  her  acceptance  of  Christ  and  her 
purpose  to  live  a Christian  life.  We  were  much  inter 
ested  to  learn  from  her  that  when  a child  she  had  once 
attended  for  a few  months  a mission  school.  It  was  there 
no  doubt  that  the  good  seeds  were  planted  which  years 
after  were  to  spring  up  aud  bear  fruit  unto  life  eternal. 
The  hope  of  Japan  is  Christ,  and  the  easiest,  broadest, 
shortest  “way  of  the  Lord”  into  Japan,  is  through  the 
children. 

So  individual  and  distinctive  are  Japan’s  national  his- 
tory, structure,  and  spirit,  her  social  and  domestic  tra- 
ditions, habits,  and  points  of  view,  her  stage  of  industrial 
aud  educational  development;  so  unique  is  her  combina- 
tion of  Eastern  heathenism  with  Western  civilization ; 
that  of  all  mission  fields  hers  is  the  most  in.spiring  chal- 
lenge to  missionary  resourcefulness  and  originality. 
The  substance  of  the  minister’s  message,  and  the  funda- 
mental requirement  to  convey  it  both  by  teaching  and 
by  incarnation,  are  the  same  for  every  land.  Yet  the 
method  of  presenting  and  illustrating  the  truth,  of  win- 
ning native  converts,  of  reaching  the  young,  the  outside 
masses,  the  nation  at  large,  aud  of  doing  many  other 
vitally  essential  things,  must  be  most  carefully  adapted 
to  the  national  mind,  habit,  and  stage  of  advancement. 

A method  of  instructing  converts  which  succeeded  ad- 
mirably in  China  I found  would  prove  utterly  impracti- 
cable in  Japan  on  account  of  the  personal  sensitiveness 
and  self-sufficiency  of  the  Japanese.  Proti’acted  meetings 
of  a week  or  ten  days  are  as  common  in  the  Korean  and 
Chinese  as  in  our  American  churches.  But  throughout 
the  greater  part  of  Japan  no  such  meeting  as  a rule  will 
be  attended  by  the  same  people  for  more  than  half  a 


28 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


week  at  most,  and  our  missionary  and  native  evange- 
lists expect  tlieir  station  and  ont-station  protracted  meet- 
ings to  last  two  nights. 

The  most  famous  and  gifted  evangelist  in  Japan, -Mr. 
Kanamori,  has  one  sermon  of  nearly  three  hours  length  in 
which  he  treats  successively  the  themes  of  God,  Sin,  and 
Salvation.  And  this  sermon  he  preaches  night  after 
night  without  the  change  of  a sentence  to  the  changing 
audiences  that  throng  to  hear  him.  This  original  method, 
in  his  hands,  certainly  has  proved  highly  successful.  One 
of  Japan’s  pi’ominent  missionaries,  taking  advantage  of 
the  exceptional  popularity  of  the  press  in  Japan,  is  blaz- 
ing a new  trail  in  what  he  aptly  calls  newspaper  evangel- 
ism. 

Japan’s  uniqueness  as  a mission  field  should  evoke 
plans  that  are  not  simply  importations  or  modifications 
of  methods  used  in  America,  China,  or  India,  but  are  the 
direct  outgrowth  of  an  exhaustive  and  penetrating  study 
of  the  peculiar  conditions  in  Japan.  When  the  four 
men  of  St.  Mark’s  Gospel  found  they  could  not  get  their 
sick  friend  to  Jesus  by  the  ordinary  front-door  way,  they 
adopted  the  novel  and  adventurous  ladder-and-roof  route, 
abandoning  all  precedent,  and  guided  only  by  a common- 
sense  study  of  conditions.  And  what  Jesus  saw  and  re- 
warde<l  was  their  “faith.”  What  we  all  need  is  the 
originality,  the  inventiveness,  the  daring,  of  a great 
faith. 

The  Immediate  Need 

Of  the  115,000  Christian  communicants  among  Ja- 
pan’s 58,000,000  the  great  majority  are  in  the  big  cities, 
leaving  about  80  per  cent  of  her  densely  peopled  ter- 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


29 


ritory  unreached  in  any  effective  way  by  the  gospel. 
For  example,  a missionary  husband  and  wife  of  our 
Church  were  for  fifteen  years  the  only  missionaries  in  a 
scattered  population  of  285,000.  In  another  section  three 
women  and  two  men  of  our  force  are  the  only  mission- 
aries in  a scattered  population  of  750,000.  At  another 
point  a missionary  husband,  wife,  and  daughter  of  our 
Church  are  the  only  missionaries  in  a population  of 
1,000,000.  Our  44  missionaries  in  eTapan  should  be  144. 
The  total  missionary  force  in  Japan  of  all  Boards,  num- 
bering 1,089,  including  wives,  is  utterly  inadequate. 

The  most  varied  missionary  gifts  can  find  fruitful  ex- 
ercise in  Japan,  but  perhaps  most  sorely  needed  are  men 
and  women  of  evangelistic  passion  and  power. 

To  this  great  field  God  must  surely  be  calling  young 
men  and  women  of  our  Church.  Are  they  turning  a deaf 
ear  to  His  call?  Let  every  reader  of  these  pages  ask, 
“Lord,  is  it  I ?”  When  criticised  for  working  among 
publicans  and  sinners  our  Lord  justified  His  course  by 
the  question  of  need.  “They  that  are  whole  need  not 
a physician  but  they  that  are  sick.”  In  other  words,  “It 
is  the  superior  need  that  determines  my  choice.” 

The  great  majority  of  people  cannot  go  as  foreign 
missionaries  on  account  of  age,  family  responsibilities, 
deficiency  of  health,  capacity,  education,  or  other  reasons. 
If  the  few  that  are  able  to  go  should  determine  their  field 
as  their  Lord  determined  His,  would  they  be  laboring 
among  the  people  here  that  have  already  one  Protestant 
church  to  every  .319  of  the  population,  or  among  those 
yonder  where  millions  of  men  and  women  and  children 
in  tens  of  thousands  of  villages  thickly  clustered  on 
seashore,  in  valley,  and  on  mountainside,  are  lifting 


30 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


helpless  hands  to  us  out  of  their  blank  heathenism  and 
crying  to  us  as  truly  as  the  man  of  Macedonia  did  to 
Paul,  “Come  over  and  help  us.” 

Not  the  least  needy  class  in  Japan  is  the  intellectual 
class.  Here  again  we  have  a melancholy  parallel  with 
the  old  Roman  Empire  in  which,  as  every  scholar  knows, 
the  combination  of  high  mental  culture  with  a heathen- 
ism powerless  to  meet  spiritual  needs,  resulted  in  wide- 
spread pessimism  and  suicide. 

Some  twelve  years  ago  a Japanese  University  student 
wrote  a sad  little  note  to  the  effect  that  he  could  find  no 
answer  to  his  soul’s  questionings.  Then  he  climbed  up 
to  the  head  of  the  Kegon  Falls  and  threw  himself  over. 
I climbed  to  the  same  spot  and  holding  to  a great  rock 
looked  over  that  dizzy  height  of  250  feet.  Cut  in  the  bark 
of  a tree  grovung  close  to  the  brink  I saw  his  initials  and 
under  them  carved  by  his  own  hand  the  Japanese  symbol 
for  death.  Other  students  committed  suicide  there.  The 
government  put  up  a strong  barbed  wire  fence  to  prevent 
access  to  the  place,  but  in  vain.  From  that  frightful 
height  more  than  500  young  men  have  plunged  them- 
selves into  the  pool  below,  and  the  number  is  continually 
increasing.  Only  five  days  before  I was  there,  a young 
man  twenty-three  years  of  age  had  thrown  himself  over 
and  his  i)arents  had  just  left  the  place  after  a vain  en- 
deavor to  recover  his  body. 

I was  talking  of  this  on  the  return  boat  with  a 
Japanese  professor  in  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokyo. 
With  profound  solemnity  he  said  to  me, 

“What  these  young  men  need,  what  Japan  needs,  is 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.” 


PKESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


31 


I asked  him  what  kind  of  missionaries  we  should 
send  to  Japan.  Said  he, 

“Men  and  women  in  whom  my  people  can  see  the  life 
and  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ.” 

Those  young  men  are  gone.  After  life's  fitful  fever, 
their  poor  bodies  are  lying  quiet  in  the  deep  pool  under 
Kegon  Falls.  But  if  tlie  cry  of  their  bitter  need  shall 
reach  our  hearts,  they  will  not  have  died  in  vain. 

For  Study  Classes 

1.  Why  should  Americans  be  special!}^  interested  in 
Japan? 

2.  Explain  the  fascination  of  Japan. 

3.  Why  is  Japan  hated? 

4.  What  grounds  for  pride  have  the  Japanese? 

5.  What  is  Japan’s  business  reputation  and  how  ex- 
plained ? 

6.  What  traits  are  manifest  in  her  relations  with 
China  and  Korea? 

7.  Name  certain  essentials  to  a fair  judgment  of 
Japan. 

8.  Why  are  we  prone  to  exi)ect  too  much  of  Japan? 

9.  W'hat  Christian  examples  can  Jaiian  quote  for 
her  misdeeds? 

10.  Why  does  Ja])an  think  of  hypocrisy  and  greed 
as  Caucasian  traits? 

11.  Do  the  people  rule  in  Japan? 

12.  Why  did  Japan  take  Germany  as  her  model? 

13.  Exi)lain  the  Military  Party’s  prestige. 

14.  For  what  has  this  party  been  responsible? 

15.  Describe  the  outlook  of  the  two  parties  and  the 
probable  final  outcome. 

16.  What  is  Japan’s  distinctive  mark  as  a mission 
field,  and  its  effect  on  mission  work? 


32 


PRESENT-DAY  JAPAN 


17.  Influence  of  the  narikin? 

18.  Effect  of  Japanese  education  on  mission  work? 

19.  To  what  extent  is  Japan  a literate  nation? 

20.  Defects  of  Japan’s  educational  system  and  facili- 
ties. 

21.  Intellectual  opportunities  of  Japanese  women. 

22.  Immorality  in  Japan. 

23.  The  call  for  Social  Welfare  work. 

24.  The  factory  system  in  Japan  and  the  condition 
of  girl  workers. 

25.  Compare  Japan’s  former  feudal  system  T\dth  her 
present  type  of  civilization. 

26.  In  the  fateful  change  of  key-words  what  safe- 
guard does  Japan  lack? 

27.  Illustrate  from  the  Universities. 

28.  How  is  the  sense  of  national  moral  need  seen  in 
Government  efforts?  In  Buddhism?  In  the  press? 

29.  A heathen  nation  on  quest  imposes  w'hat  obli- 
gation on  the  Church  of  Christ? 

30.  Japan’s  sense  of  values,  self-devotion,  industry, 
thoroughness. 

31.  The  Japanese  traveling  habit,  and  its  effect  on 
the  spread  of  Christianity. 

32.  What  flames  in  the  breast  of  every  Japanese 
youth?  Its  significance? 

33.  The  Christian  kindergarten. 

34.  How  does  Japan  make  a unique  challenge  to  mis- 
sionary originality? 

35.  Inadequacy  of  the  missionary  force  in  Japan. 

36.  If  you  determined  your  special  field  as  our  Lord 
determined  His,  where  would  you  go? 

37.  Is  there  on  earth  a more  pitiful  cry  of  need  than 
suicide,  and  the  suicide  of  the  young? 

38.  ^‘Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  ME  to  do?” 


f7v 


Presbyterian  Church  in  the  united  States 

EXECUTIVE  committee  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 
POST  OFFICE  BOX  NUMBER  330 
N/^SHVILLE,  TENNESSEE 


EDUCATIONAL  DEPARTMENT 


